Rockland Nationals

Rockland Nationals
Rockland Nationals
Nickname	Nats
City	Rockland, Ontario, Canada
League	Central Canada Hockey League
Division	East Division
Founded	1968
Home arena	Clarence-Rockland Arena; (capacity: 2,500)
Colours	Red, blue, white ;
Owner(s)	Luc Lavictoire
President	André Chaput
General manager	Carl Robillard
Head coach	Justin Pereira
Captain	Josh O'Connor
Media	FloSports
Website	https://www.rocklandnationalsjuniora.com
Franchise history
1968-1973	Ottawa M&W Rangers
1973-2005	Gloucester Rangers
2005-2008	Orleans Blues
2008–2017	Gloucester Rangers
2017–	Rockland Nationals

The Rockland Nationals (French: Le National de Rockland), and colloquially known as the Nats, are a Junior A ice hockey team based in Rockland, Ontario. The Nationals compete in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) as a member of the East Division. Since 2017, the team has played its home games at Clarence-Rockland Arena, originally known as the CIH Arena.

Founded in 1968 as the Ottawa M&W Rangers, they are one of the oldest continuously operating junior ice hockey team worldwide. The current Rockland Nationals began play in 2017–18, after the Gloucester Rangers relocated to Rockland after nearly 50 years in Gloucester.

Team history

The franchise dates back to the 1968 expansion Ottawa M.&.W (MacIntosh & Watts) Rangers and made their home in Leitrim in south Ottawa. In 1972, the M&W Rangers became the Gloucester Rangers and played out of the Earl Armstrong Arena. The 1972–73 season was coached by Derek Holmes, and included Mark Aubry as a player.^[1] The Rangers won their first Art Bogart Cup as league champions in 1981 by defeating the Pembroke Lumber Kings. The 1995 Centennial Cup (now Royal Bank Cup) was awarded to the City of Gloucester and the Gloucester Rangers. The Rangers, who were up by a goal in the championship game against the Calgary Canucks of the AJHL. The Canucks tied the game in the dying seconds and won the Centennial Cup in overtime. After their last playoff appearance of the 20th century, the Rangers fell on hard times missing the playoffs multiple times.

In 2002, new owners decided to change the colours to Black, Purple, and Silver. The team rebuilt with blockbuster trades with cross-town rivals and defending league champions Ottawa Junior Senators. Unfortunately, the Rangers came close to winning the 2004 league championship by one goal in a sudden death game 7 to Nepean. In October 2004, coaching staff walking out of the organization over disagreements with management and ownership leaving the team with a shortage of players throughout the season through trades and releases. The team was sold to a group of Orleans businessmen in April 2005, who re-branded the team as the Orleans Blues, but couldn't move to Orleans, Ontario because of an inadequate arena, and therefore were forced to change back to the Gloucester Rangers for the 2008-09 season.

Rockland Nationals (2017–)

In late September 2016, Paul Jennings sold the Gloucester Rangers to a group of partners being André Chaput, André Charlebois & Amélie Lecompte, Jean-Robert Léger and Robert Bourdeau. Paul Jennings purchased the Orleans Blues franchise from Chaput in 2007. The Gloucester Rangers finished the 2016-17 season and relocated to the 2,500-seat Clarence-Rockland Arena to become the Rockland Nationals after playing at the aging Earl Armstrong for nearly 50 years. Nationals games can be heard on flohockey.tv, via the FloSports streaming platform. The team's play-by-play broadcaster is Richard Gauthier, who also serves as the public address announcer for the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League. Gauthier brings over 40 years of experience in sports media as a play-by-play broadcaster and public address announcer for various sports.

In 2020, the ownership team changed with the sale of André Chaput’s share to Luc Lavictoire.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season	GP	W	L	OTL	T	GF	GA	Points	Finish	Playoffs
1968-69	40	11	22	7	-	145	202	29	5th CJHL
1969-70	40	30	6	4	-	198	108	64	1st CJHL	Won League
1970-71	48	26	12	10	-	235	158	62	2nd CJHL	Won League
1971-72	48	27	20	1	-	234	188	55	2nd CJHL
1972-73	55	30	20	5	-	293	233	65	2nd CJHL
1973-74	50	25	19	6	-	297	252	56	4th CJHL
1974-75	50	14	27	9	-	241	289	37	5th CJHL
1975-76	50	26	21	3	-	271	203	55	2nd CJHL
1976-77	50	24	21	5	-	241	231	53	3rd CJHL
1977-78	48	30	13	5	-	261	204	65	2nd CJHL
1978-79	48	23	23	2	-	210	235	48	3rd CJHL
1979-80	50	33	12	5	-	284	187	71	2nd CJHL
1980-81	50	28	15	7	-	248	191	63	3rd CJHL	Won League
1981-82	50	11	36	3	-	191	266	25	6th CJHL
1982-83	48	15	28	5	-	189	241	35	6th CJHL
1983-84	53	21	16	6	-	233	235	48	6th CJHL
1984-85	54	18	33	1	2	234	328	39	6th CJHL
1985-86	60	35	21	1	3	311	247	74	4th CJHL
1986-87	54	28	21	2	3	260	248	61	3rd CJHL
1987-88	56	25	27	1	3	275	271	54	6th CJHL
1988-89	55	10	39	1	5	203	316	26	9th CJHL
1989-90	56	34	18	2	2	325	281	72	4th CJHL
1990-91	54	32	15	2	5	347	276	71	3rd CJHL
1991-92	57	40	12	4	1	360	233	85	3rd CJHL
1992-93	56	30	18	3	5	308	261	68	5th CJHL
1993-94	57	37	16	2	2	324	245	78	1st CJHL	Won League
1994-95	55	32	18	2	3	263	219	69	3rd CJHL
1995-96	54	35	18	1	0	249	177	71	3rd in East
1996-97	54	26	24	4	0	209	221	56	3rd in East
1997-98	56	26	21	9	3	223	217	64	2nd in East
1998-99	54	7	43	4	0	18	149	287	5th in East	Did not qualify
1999-00	55	11	41	4	0	26	177	307	5th in East	Did not qualify
2000-01	55	14	35	6	0	37	192	278	4th in East	Lost quarter-final 4-1 to Cornwall
2001-02	55	6	43	7	0	19	162	331	5th in East	Did not qualify
2002-03	55	27	17	11	2	67	246	210	3rd in East	Lost semi-final 4-3 to Nepean
2003-04	55	30	21	4	0	188	167	64	4th	Lost final 4-3 to Nepean
2004-05	57	24	26	1	6	194	204	55	3rd in East	Lost quarter-final 4-3 to Hawkesbury
2005-06	57	16	37	1	3	172	262	36	5th in East	Did not qualify
2006-07	55	26	21	6	2	184	190	60	2nd in East	Lost quarter-final 4-2 to Nepean
2007-08	60	14	38	4	4	188	301	36	10th CJHL	Did not qualify
2008-09	60	26	26	-	8	198	247	60	8th CJHL	Lost quarter-final 4-0 to Nepean
2009-10	62	35	21	-	6	277	225	76	4th CJHL	Lost quarter-final 4-2 to Ottawa
2010-11	62	35	25	-	2	263	244	72	4th CCHL	Lost semi-final 4-0 to Pembroke
2011-12	62	13	46	-	3	186	325	29	12th CCHL	Did not qualify
2012-13	62	19	35	-	8	166	246	46	10th CCHL	Did not qualify
2013-14	62	23	32	-	7	219	280	53	9th CCHL	Did not qualify
2014-15	62	31	30	-	1	199	223	63	3rd of 6 East 9th of 12 CCHL	Won Prelim. Playin, 2-0 (73's) Lost Quarterfinals, 0-4 (Jr. Senators)
2015-16	62	5	52	3	2	116	305	15	6th of 6 East 12th of 12 CCHL	Did not qualify
2016-17	62	22	34	3	3	141	204	50	4th of 6 East 10th of 12 CCHL	Did not qualify
Rockland Nationals - CCHL
2017-18	62	28	28	6	0	186	204	62	4th of 6 East 8th of 12 CCHL	Lost Quarterfinals 1-4 (Canadians)
2018-19	62	40	17	5	0	205	151	85	2nd of 6 East 4th of 12 CCHL	Won Quarterfinals, 4-1 (Hawks) Lost Semifinals, 1-4 (Canadians)
2019-20	62	39	19	4	0	254	183	82	1st of 6 East 2nd of 12 CCHL	No playoffs (COVID-19)
2020-21	9	4	5	0	0	28	25	8	NO STANDINGS	No playoffs (COVID-19)
2021-22	55	24	24	7	0	166	188	55	4th of 6 East 9th of 12 CCHL	Lost Tie-Break Game, 1-0 (Bears)
2022-23	55	20	23	12	0	172	203	52	5th of 6 East 10th of 12 CCHL	Did not qualify
2023-24	55	32	19	3	1	202	175	68	3rd of 6 East 4th of 12 CCHL	Won Quarterfinals 4-2 (Wolves) Lost Semifinals 1-4 (Grads)

Championships

CJHL Bogart Cup Championships: 1970, 1971, 1981, 1994 (Gloucester Rangers)

Centennial Cup Champions: 1976 (Gloucester Rangers)

Eastern Canadian Fred Page Cup Championships: None

CJAHL Royal Bank Cup Championships: None

Notable alumni

References

^ "Ottawa M and W Rangers 1972-73 roster and scoring statistics". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2018-08-02.

[1] "Ottawa M and W Rangers 1972-73 roster and scoring statistics". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2018-08-02.

[1]